Louise Skinner

Louise has a significant interest in matters concerning equality and diversity in the workplace, offering clients strategic and specific advice on issues relating to the gender pay gap, including equal pay, parental rights, quotas, and positive action in both recruitment and promotion. In addition, Louise advises on #MeToo issues including conducting investigations into work place culture and advising on harassment prevention, crisis management and remediative action.

Louise has experience in the financial services sector, advising clients including investment banks, hedge funds and asset management firms on the employment aspects of cross-border regulatory investigations and connected litigation. Additionally, she provides counsel on regulatory personnel issues, including disciplinary proceedings, complex issues of privilege, and a variety of employee compensation issues, including withholding and forfeiture of bonus payments and deferred compensation. Louise works closely with clients in relation to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, in particular with regard to the on-going assessment of fitness and propriety, regulatory references and the impact on in-house compliance and HR practices and people management. In a global environment of heightened regulatory accountability and scrutiny, Louise’s grasp of and experience in the multi-dimensional issues present in matters which bridge the employment and regulatory framework have made her a go-to person for cases of this kind.

Louise also has experience in advising life sciences clients, including many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, on the full ambit of employment legal issues, including ethical and regulatory concerns. Louise is an active member of the firm’s sports industry practice, advising clients in the sports and entertainment sector on a wide range of employment issues, including equality and harassment, global mobility and contractual documentation. Louise advises a wide range of clients on employee competition matters, including in relation to restrictive covenants, confidentiality and garden leave, and has experience in applications for injunctive relief in the High Court and Court of Appeal. Louise also advises on the employment aspects of corporate transactions and restructuring projects, supporting clients on many acquisitions, outsourcings, takeovers and reorganisations. She has additional experience counselling clients on the automatic transfer of employment requirements and associated information and consultation obligations.

Louise makes it a priority to develop close relationships with her clients obtaining an in-depth understanding of their unique challenges and ensuring that her advice is at all times strategic and pragmatic.

Louise frequently speaks on employment and regulatory-related topics, is regularly quoted in the press and publishes articles in publications including PLC online, IFLR, and PLC Magazine.